Billy Garraty’s West Bromwich Albion Career.
59 appearances, 22 goals
Joined West Bromwich Albion, Oct. 1908-1909 ( £270 ) Billy skippered Albion on several occasions and during his time at the Hawthorns and produced many exciting performances. His Albion debut v Barnsley (away) Division 2 31st October 1908. Won 2-0 and his last Albion game v Hull City (away) Division 2 23rd April 1910. Lost 1-5
Billy Garraty was drafted in October 1908 to spearhead the push for promotion. He settled to his task in impressive fashion too with a dozen goals in 26 games, but unfortunately the Baggies fell short to Spurs by 0.02 of a goal. Just one more goal from Garraty or his colleagues and the Baggies would have been promoted that year.
He started the following season at centre-half, moving back and forth through the team across the campaign, ending up with another nine goals in a mediocre season for the club and heading for Lincoln City at season’s end.
Famous Games
West Brom v Tottenham. A Second Division clash played at The Hawthorns in front of a crowd of 27,224 with ‘The Throstles’ winning 3.0 to go top of the table ahead of local rivals Birmingham City. The goals were scored by Hewitt (2) and Billy Garraty. This was West Bromwich Albions’s first ever win over Tottenham after losing two previous FA Cup ties. They also won the away game at White Hart Lane that season by three goals to one. Billy Garraty and Hewitt (2) also scored Albion’s goals in that match – played in front of 35,532 fans on 13th March, 1909.
4-2 vs Bristol City
Second round replay: 9th February 1910
Attendance:
Scorers: Charlie Hewitt {2}, Bob Pailor {image left}, George Simpson
Ranked at the time: 60
Today: Outside the top 500
Team: 1:Jimmy Stringer 2:Harry Burton 3:Jesse Pennington 4: 5:Sammy Timmins 6:Jack Manners 7:Charlie Hewitt 8:Sid Bowser 9:Billy Garraty 10:Bob Pailor 11:George Simpson
Left for Lincoln City 1910 scorer of 20 goals over the two seasons.
